Warp knitting machine

ABSTRACT

WARP KNITTING MACHINE HAVING A ZONE WHEREIN NEEDLES ARE DISPOSED AND MEANS FOR SUPPLYING WARP THREADS TO THE NEEDLES INCLUDES A DEVICE FOR FILLING WEFT HAVING HOLDER MEMBERS FOR MAKING THE WEFT READY OUTSIDE THE NEEDLE ZONE, THE HOLDER MEMBERS BEING DISPOSED IN THE VICINITY OF WEFT REVERSAL LOCATIONS AND BEING ROTATABLE IN CLOSED PATHS, MEANS FOR GUIDING THE WEFT TO THE WARP THREADS, THE HOLDER MEMBERS HAVING A THREAD GUIDE COOPERATING THEREWITH FOR MAKING THE WEFT READY, THE THREAD GUIDE BEING DISPLACEABLEIN THE CLOSED TRAVEL PATH OF ONE OF THE HOLDERS, AND MEANS FOR FEEDING A PLURALITY OF WEFTS SELECTIVELY TO THE THREAD GUIDE FOR ENTRAINMENT THEREBY IN THE CLOSED TRAVEL PATH THEREOF.

Oct; 5, 1971 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 5, 1969 FIG.)

Oct. 5, 1971 s, u s 3,609,997

WARP KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 3, 1969 I 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 5, 1971 s, FURST 3,609,997

WARP KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1969 3 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Get. 5, 1971 s, FURST 3,609,997

WARP KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1969 l 6 Sheets-Sheet L Oct. 5, 1971 s, FURST 3,609,997

WARP KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1969 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct. 5, 1971 s, FURST 3,609,997

WARP KNITTING MACHINE Filed Sept. 5, 1969 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 United States Patent Oflice 3,609,997 Patented Oct. 5, 1971 3,609,997 WARP KNITTING MACHINE Stefan Furst, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, assignor to Stefanie Furst and Hans Joachim Furst, both of Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, heirs of said Stefan Furst, deceased, assignors to Walter Reiners, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany Filed Sept. 3, 1969, Ser. No. 854,974 Claims priority, application Germany, Sept. 4, 1968, P 17 85 269.6 Int. Cl. D04b 23/12 US. C]. 66-84 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Warp knitting machine having a zone wherein needles are disposed and means for supplying warp threads to the needles includes a device for filling a weft having holder members for making the weft ready outside the needle zone, the holder members being disposed in the vicinity of weft reversal locations and being rotatable in closed paths, means for guiding the weft to the warp threads, the holder members having a thread guide cooperating therewith for making the weft ready, the thread guide being displaceable in the closed travel path of one of the holders, and means for feeding a plurality of wefts selectively to the thread guide for entrainment thereby in the closed travel path thereof.

My invention relates to warp knitting machines and especially to Raschel knitting machines.

In my copending patent application Ser. No. 840,161, filed July 9, 1969, I disclose a warp knitting machine having a zone wherein knitting needles are disposed and 9 means for supplying warp threads to the needles which includes device for filling a weft having holder members for making the weft ready outside the needle zone, the holder members being disposed in the vicinity of weft reversal locations and being rotatable in closed travel paths, and means for guiding the weft to the warp threads, the holder members having a thread guide cooperating therewith for making the weft ready, the thread guide being displaceable in the closed travel path of one of the holder members.

In my aforementioned copending patent application, I have noted that instead of a single weft, several wefts can be inserted or filled simultaneously by one thread guide and, in addition the drive for the weft-filling device can be transmitted in such a way that the weft for each row of stitches is inserted in any interrupted sequence.

It is accordingly an object of the invention in the instant application to provide an improvement in the warp knitting machine of my aforementioned copending application that will render it possible to fill or insert different wefts into the stitches in any desired sequence and number.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, I accordingly provide warp knitting machine of the general type disclosed in my aforementioned copending application with means for selectively feeding a plurality of wefts to the thread guide for entrainment thereby in the closed travel path thereof. Consequently, the thread guide can entrain the weft fed into the closed travel path thereof after one or more passes of the thread guide over the closed travel path as required, so that different patterns may be attained in the finished web.

Although the weft to be entrained by the thread guide can be suitably fed, in principle, to any point of the closed travel path of the thread guide, it is nevertheless advantageous and in accordance with another feature of my invention, to provide means for feeding the wefts to the thread guide in the vicinity of the holder members located adjacent the weft reversal locations. In this case, the provision of special members for holding the thread being fed can be dispensed with when, in accordance with a further feature of the invention, the wefts are fed to the thread guide by means of the holder members. In accordance with yet another feature of my invention, 1 provide means for feeding each weft over at least two holder members to the thread guide and from the thread guide in the form of a loop to a third holder member located opposite the thread guide. Consequently, only one motion of the thread guide is necessary for making ready a pair of wefts along the needle bar of the warp knitting machine. In accordance with additional features of my invention, the respective holder members have a hookshaped structure and are connected to a drive mechanism so that the hook-shaped structure thereof always points in the same direction whereby entrainment and release of the weft loop thereby is facilitated.

In accordance with another novel feature of my invention, I provide two thread guides displaceable at a constant distance from one another in the closed travel path of one of the holders, one of the thread guides being adapted to entrain a new weft loop as the other of the thread guides releases to a holder member located opposite thereto a weft loop previously entrained by the other thread guide. An additional advantage derived from this feature is that the withdrawal of the weft is effected more uniformly and, moreover, for unvarying operating speed of the warp knitting machine, the speed of weft withdrawal can be cut in half.

In order to seize the thread that is respectively placed in or fed into the closed travel path of the thread guide, the latter, in accordance with my invention, is provided with gripping members operable either mechanically, hydraulically, electrically or by any other suitable means. Because of its simplicity and limited susceptibility to breakdown, the thread guide is preferably provided with a hook-shaped structure.

In accordance with another feature of my invention, the thread guide is mounted on a rotary drive mechanism capable of being fully counterbalanced. When two thread guides are provided, they are respectively in weft-entraining or weft-releasing position alternatively when in the vicinity of the respective holder members so that the use of controlled gripping and releasing devices ,are superfluous. The wefts being fed to the thread guide can be delivered thereto respectively through separate thread feeders which are controllable in a conventional manner in accordance with a desired pattern.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in warp knitting machine, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view partly in section of a Raschel knitting machine constructed in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the device for filling a weft which includes two rotating thread guides and drive mechanism therefor as seen from the right-hand side of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an upper edge view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along the line IV-IV in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of FIG. 4 showing the drive mechanism for the thread guides thereof rotated through an angle of substantially 90;

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged schematic fragmentary views of one of the holder members and thread guides for the operating position of the thread guide drive mechanism shown in FIG. 4 in different phases of the weft feed thereto;

FIG. 9 is a view similar to that of FIG. 8 but in a different operating position of the drive mechanism for the thread guides corresponding to that shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of one of the holder members and associated parts of FIG. 1 in two phase positions thereof;

, FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view of the upper left-hand side of FIG. 10 as seen from the left-hand side of that figure;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a view corresponding to that of FIG. 8 showing a phase during the feeding of two wefts to the thread guide;

FIG. 14 is a view similar to that of FIG. 6, rotated through 90, showing means for controlling the separate feed of two wefts to the thread guide;

FIG. 15 is a view of FIG. 14 as seen from the bottom thereof and rotated through an angle of 90; and

FIGS. 16 and 17 are cross sectional and end views respectively of a holder member constructed in accordance with my invention.

Referring now to the drawings and first particularly to FIG. 1 thereof there is shown therein, as in the aforementioned copending application, a Raschel knitting machine having a frame side wall 1 to which connecting members or cross-pieces 66 and 67 and a traverse or cross beam 33 are secured. In the interest of clarity, the projecting arm on which a pair of cross wound bobbins or cheeses are carried to supply the weft to the knitting machine are not illustrated in FIG. 1. The nonillustrated projecting arm can have any suitable shape for mounting the bobbins side-by-side as shown for example, in FIGS. 4 and 5 of the instant application. Parital warp beams 34 and 35 are rotatably mounted on the upper part of the side wall 1 and warp threads 36 and 37 lead therefrom, respectively, through spring seesaws or rocker arms 38 and 38' to eye needles 39 and 40 and therefrom to latch needles 31 of the knitting machine. The latch needles 31 are secured by a needle bar 21 to a carrier rod 23. The knitting machine has a main drive shaft 17 which carries a cam 18 by means of which a lever carrying follower rollers that are in engagement with the surface of the cam 18 is pivotable about a pivot shaft 19 fixed, for example, to the side wall 1. The lever 20 is pivotally connected to the carrier rod 23 supporting the needle bar 21 and raises and lowers the latter in accordance with the motion imparted thereto by the rotating cam 18. The carrier rod 23 is articulatingly connected at its lower end, as viewed in FIG. 1, to a pull lever 25 which is rotatably mounted on a pin 26 extending from the side wall 1. A cutting plate 27 is fixed to the side wall 1 and extends transversely therefrom. Fabric material 28 which has been knitted in the Raschel knitting machine of the invention is withdrawn from the needles 31 by rotatably mounted feed rollers 29 and 30, suitably driven, for example, through nonillustrated transmission mechanism, from the main drive shaft 17, and is wound on a beam 32. A device having some similarity to the weft filling device disclosed in my copending application 'Ser. No. 847,063 filed on Aug. 4, 1969 is employed for filling the weft in the knitting machine of the instant application and is illustrated in enlarged view of FIGS. 2 and 3. In contast to the corresponding weft filling device of my last mentioned copending application, I employ two thread guides 312 and 312 traversible at equal spacing from one another along the travel path 318 and mounted on a fully counterbalanced rotary mechanism 300 so that they are alternating disposed in a weft-entraining and a weft-releasing position. It should be noted however that the position of the rotary mechanism 300 and consequently of the thread guides 312 and 312' in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are rotated through an angle of from the position thereof shown in FIG. 1 so that the outer and inner rod portions thereof extend parallel to the knitted fabric web 28 in the manner shown for example in FIG. 4. Thus, the thread guides 312 and 312 as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are located in the vicinity of the weft reversal locations. The rotary mechanism 300 includes an inner rod portion 301 rotatably mounted on a shaft 303 carried by a crosspiece or beam 9 which is also secured transversely to the side wall 1. The inner rod portion 301 is provided at both ends thereof with bearings 305 and 305' wherein outer rod portions 308 and 308' are respectively pivotally mounted. Bearings 310 and 310 are located respectively at the outer ends of the rod portions 308 and 308', the thread guides 312 and 312' being respectively rotatably mounted in the bearings 310 and 310. Transmission of rotary movements from the shaft 303 to the outer arms 308 and 308 as well as to the thread guides 312 and 312' is effected through a belt or chain drive mechanism 316, 317 and 317. Due to the fact that the drive of the thread guides 312 and 312' is effected through the drive mechanisms 317 and 317' respectively with a transmission ratio of 1:2, the hook-shaped thread guides always face in the same direction.

In FIG. 4 there is shown the Raschel knitting machine of my invention as viewed along the line IV-IV in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 1, several of the details of the machine having been omitted since they are not believed to be essential for understanding the invention, and in the interest of clarity. The finished knitted web 28 is clearly seen in FIG. 4 disposed adjacent a row of the stich-forming needles 31. The drive mechanism for'the needle bar 21 has been omitted in FIG. 4 to prevent obstruction of other features essential to the invention. Two wefts f and f are withdrawn from two bobbins 330 and 331 which are mounted on a supporting arm of the knitting machine and are fed to the thread guides 312 and 312' respectively which are attached to the rotary mechanism 300. The threads 7 and 1" are passed through the thread feeding devices 332 and 333 respectively to the holder members 334 to 337 shown in FIG. 4 at the left-hand side of the knitted web 28. The specific construction of the holder members 334 to 337 well as of the holder member 338 located at the right-hand side of the knitted web 28 in FIG. 4 will be described hereinafter in greater detail with respect to further figures in this application. It can be clearly seen, however, in FIG. 4, how the weft f is seized or entrained by the thread guide 312 from between the holder members 335 and 336. The other thread guide 312, as viewed in FIG. 4, has already entrained the weft f from between the holder members 334 and 335 and has drawn it in the form of a loop S along the fabric web 28 to the other holder member 338. As further shown clearly in FIG. 4, the shaft 303 of the weft-filling device of my invention is driven at a transmission ratio of 1:4 by a drive shaft 14, which received its driving power through suitable gear transmission from the main drive shaft 17 of the knitting machine. Thus, for a complete rotation of the shaft 303, four stitches are formed because two wefts are made ready for the row of needles 31 from the loop S by the respective thread guides 312 and 312' for each half rotation of the shaft 303.

In FIG. 5 there is shown a view similar to that of FIG. 4 with several further details of the knitting machine omitted and moreover with the shaft 303 rotated through an angle of 90 with respect to the position thereof in FIG. 4 so that the thread guide 312 has entrained and drawn the Weft f, originally located between the holder members 335 and 336, in the form of a loop to a location substantially central of the width of the knitted web 28. The four holder members 334 to 337 have accordingly been rotated through an angle of 45. At this instant, the thread guide 312' moves from the right-hand side to the left-hand side of FIG. and is actually located directly behind the thread guide 312 as viewed in FIG. 5.

As has been aforementioned, the holder members 334 to 337 fulfill three different functions, namely, they must fee'dthe weft so that it can be seized or entrained by the thread guides 312 or 312' on its travel path 318, they must make ready the weft at a location outside the needle zone of the knitting machine, and they must act as guide members for filling the readied wefts to the warp threads 36, 37.

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show how the weft is fed by the holder members 334 to 337 so as to be entrained by the thread guide 312 on its travel path 318. FIG. 6 is actually an enlargement of a fragment of FIG. 4 showing these members. FIG. 7 is a front view of FIG. 6 as seen from the top of FIG. 4, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view of FIG. 7 taken along the line VIIIVIII in the direction of the arrows.

Although the knitted web 28 is shown in FIG. 6, in the interest of clarity, the second weft f has been omitted. The last weft of the knitted web 28 is applied to the warp 36 and 37 (FIG. 1) by means of the holder member 334 which serves as a guide member but, as shown in FIG. 6, has not yet been released from this holder member 334. It accordingly encircles the holder member 334 and extends, as in FIG. 4, to the thread guide 312' located opposite the holder member 334. From the thread guide 312', the weft then extends over the holder members 335 and 336 to the bobbin 330 (FIG. 4, for example) not shown in FIG. 6. In the course of travel of the thread guide 312 along the closed path 318 thereof in direction of the arrow 318a, the thread guide 312 assumes the solid-line position thereof shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Accordingly, the hook-shaped thread guide 312 grips the thread 1 between the holder members 335 and 336 and, as the thread guide 312 moves outwardly i.e. toward the righthand side of FIG. 6, to the location thereof shown in phantom at 312a, it entrains a new thread loop S shown in double-dot-dash lines in FIG. 6. The dot-dash location of the thread loop S shown in FIG. 6 is not illustrated in FIG. 8, but rather only the path of the thread at the instant shown in FIG. 4 i.e. as the weft leaves the knitted web 28 above the cutting plate 27 in the form of a thread loop S leading from the holder member 334, around the thread guide 312 located opposite thereto and to the holder member 335. From the holder member 335, the thread then passes over the holder member 336 to the bobbin 330 not shown in FIG. 8. Since the thread guides 312 and 312' would actually cover one another in the view of FIG. 8, they have been slightly offset from one another in the travel direction thereof in order to have a clearer understanding of the course of the thread 1 and loop S.

In the further course of operation, the holder members 334 to 337 of FIG. 8 rotate counterclockwise and, after a one-eighth rotation, assume the position thereof shown in FIG. 9. In the latter figure, the holder member 334 has slid downwardly out of the loop S of the weft, and the weft applied to the warp has been filled or bound into the same. The thread guide 312' has sunk downwardly along the travel path 318 in the direction of the arrow 318b, and has accordingly transferred the thread loop placed around it to the holder member 338. The holder member 338 has traveled toward the left-hand side of FIG. 9 along the line 338a and has accordingly applied the next weft to the warp threads because the latch needles 31 have been lowered from the holder member 338, the thread 1 again extends to the holder member 335 located at the other side of the machine and therefrom, according to the loop illustrated in FIG. 5, over the thread 6 guide 312 to the holder member 336 as Well as to the nonillustrated bobbin 330.

The transfer of the loop S by the thread guide 312' to the holder member 338 and the movements of the holder member are shown in FIGS. 10 to 12. The bearing 19 of FIG. 1 about which the double levers 321 and 322 are pivotable is shown in FIG. 10 in enlarged view. Under the biasing action of the tension springs 321a and 322a, the roller followers located at a respective end of the double levers 321 and 322 abut against the cams 323 and 324 which are rotatable with the shaft 320 in direction of the arrow 320a. The lever 322 is provided at the free end thereof with a bearing 340 in which the holder member 338 is pivotally secured. Furthermore, the holder member 338 is connected through a connecting rod 341 to the free end of the lever arm 321. The neutral position of the holder member 338 is shown in solid lines in FIG. 10. It should be noted that FIG. 10 is a view from behind the plane of FIG. 1 so that the cutting plate 27 as shown in FIG. 10 is located to the right-hand side of the needles 31.

In the solid-line position of the thread guide 338 in FIG. 10, it is assumed that the thread guide 312' has not yet reached the position thereof shown in FIG. 4 for transferring the thread loop S to the holder member 338. Consequently, the thread guide 312', seen in side view, is still located above the holder member 338, and the thread loop S leads from both sides, on the one hand, to the holder member 334 not shown in FIG. 10 and, on the other hand, to the also nonillustrated holder member 335. When the thread guide 312' has placed the thread loop over the holder member 338 and has withdrawn downwardly out of the loop, the shaft 320 with the cams 323 and 324 carried thereby have been rotated so far that the holder member 338 has moved toward the righthand side of FIG. 10 along the line 338a to the position thereof shown in phantom wherein it places one of the thread portions of the thread loop S at the warp threads above the lowered needles 31. After the needles 31 have been raised and the weft filled or bound into the warp, the holder member 338 is lowered along the line 3381) so that it can be withdrawn from the thread loop S, and is then returned along the line 3380 to the solid-line position thereof. Altogether, the holder member 338 carries out a movement which corresponds substantially to that represented by the arrows of the triangle 338a, 338b, 338c. Naturally, this movement can be carried out over a path defining a different geometrical form. It is only essential that the thread transferred by the thread guide 312' to the holder member 338 is applied by the latter, acting as a guide member, to the warp threads and is freed, and that then the holder member 338 returns to its starting position when the next stitch is formed. Accordingly, the transfer of the thread loop S by the thread guide 312 to the holder member 338 has been clarified by the side and plan views of FIGS. 11 and 12.

Whereas the operation of the holder members 334 to 337 in FIGS. 6 to 9 has been shown for only one supplied weft in the interest of simplifying the description, FIGS. 13 and 14 show how two wefts f and f can be fed to the warp. The view of FIG. 13 corresponds to that of FIG. 8, and the view of FIG. 14 corresponds substantially to that of FIG. 6. It can be readily noted in FIGS. 13 and 14 how the weft 1 which is to be filled is fed by the thread feeders 332 to the holder members 335 and 336 so that it can be gripped or entrained by the thread guide 312. The other weft f which has not been filled as yet is held by the thread feeder 333 at such a level that it cannot be entrained by the thread guide 312 as the latter moves outwardly i.e. in the direction of the arrow along the path 318 in FIG. 14.

One way of controlling the thread feeders 332 and 333 is shown in FIG. 15. It can be seen already from FIGS. 4 and 5 that two cams 343 and 344 can be rotated by the main shaft 17 through a transmission 345 depending on the movement pulses that are applied by a conventional 7 control member 346 not shown in detail in FIG. 15 but, nevertheless, well known to the man of ordinary skill in the art, in order to obtain the desired pattern of the knitted web 28. Instead of the control member 346, other different cams 343 and 344 shaped according to the pattern can naturally also be employed.

As in the proceeding figures, there is shown also in FIG. 15 the condition wherein the thread 1 is fed by the thread feeder 332 to the holder members 335 and 336. In this operating condition, the thread feeder 333 is raised to such a height that the thread 1" leading therefrom cannot be seized or entrained by the thread guide 312 as it travels along its path 318. If the thread I is to be filled into the knitted web as the weft instead of the thread f, the cams 343 and 344 are then rotated about a suitable angle in the direction of the arrow 347. Accordingly, the thread feeder 332 located adjacent the cam 343 is raised in the direction of the arrow 332a and the thread feeder 333 located adjacent the cam 334 is lowered in accordance with the arrow 333a to such a level that the threads f is fed over the thread guide members 335 and 336 instead of the thread 1 to the thread guide 12.

In FIGS. 16 and 17 there is shown how, for example, the hook-shaped holder members 334 to 337 can be mounted by means of a transmission so that the hooks always extend in the same direction. The rotary motion of the holder members as shown hereinbefore in FIGS. 8 and 9 is introduced by the main shaft 17 through the transmission 345 and the shaft 348 into the housing 354 secured to the frame of the knitting machine. On the shaft 348, by means of the disc 348a, an entrainer 349 is fastened which, in the form of a Maltese cross, cooperates with the disc 353. The transmission ratio is such that the shaft 355 which is rotated by the disc 353 is further actuated or indexed through one-eighth of a rotation for each rotation of the main shaft 17. The shaft 355 carries a disc 350 wherein the shafts 351a to 351d are secured which are rotatably mounted in the levers 352a to 352d, respectively. These levers 352a to 352d, are rigidly secured to the holder members 334 to 337, respectively, which are in turn rotatably mounted in a cover member 357. The cover member 357 is also rotatably mounted by means of ball bearings 356 with respect to the housing 354. Instead of the parallel crank drive shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, a different drive or transmission can obviously be used which ensures that the hooks of the holder members always face in the same direction during the circular movement thereof.

I claim:

1. Warp knitting machine having a zone wherein needles are disposed and means for supplying warp threads to the needles, comprising a device for inserting a weft, said device having holder members for making the weft ready outside the needle Zone, Weft reversal locations actuated in the vicinity of said holder members, and a thread guide cooperating with said holder members for feeding the weft to the warp threads, said thread guide being displaceable between said Weft reversal locations in a closed travel pathin which one ,of said holder members is disposed; and meansfor feeding a plurality of wefts selectively to said thread guide for entrainment thereby in the closed travel path thereof.

2. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein said means for feeding the wefts to said thread guide are located adjacent the holder members disposed in the. vicinity of the weft reversal locations. v

3. Warp knitting machine according to claim 2, wherein said holder members cooperate with said feeding means for feeding the wefts to said thread guide. Y

4. Warp knitting machine according to claim 3, wherein at least two holder members are located adjacent one another and a third holder member is located a distance therefrom, said feeding means being adapted to feed each weft over said two holder members to said thread guide and from said thread guide in the formof a loop to said third holder member.

5. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein said holder members are hook-shaped, and including transmission means whereon said holder members are mounted, said transmission means being operable for always facing said hook-shaped holder members in the same direction.

6. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein at least two thread guides cooperate with said holder members and are displaceable in said closed travel path.

7. Warp knitting machine according to claim 6 wherein said two thread guides are located at a constant distance from one another in said closed travel path.

8. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein said thread guide has a hook-shaped structure.

9. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein said thread guide is mounted on a fully counterweighted rotary drive mechanism and is displaceable thereby in said travel path alternatingly between a posi tion wherein it entrains a weft from at least one of said holder members to a position wherein it releases the weft to at least one of said holder members.

10. Warp knitting machine according to claim 1, including separate thread feeders for feeding the wefts to said thread guide.

11. Warp knitting machine according to claim 10 including control means cooperating with said thread feeders for feeding the wefts to said thread guide so as to fill the weft in accordance with a given pattern.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Invi 66 84 RONALD FELDBAUM, Primary Examiner 

